Card Games
by musicnutftw
Summary: Kuwabara and Yusuke stumble upon Kurama and Botan in the middle of an intense game of karuta. Shenanigans ensue.


A/N: I kind of got caught up in watching Chihayafuru recently, and what better to do when watching one anime than to think of a completely different one? The thought I had was, "What if Botan and Kurama were really good at _karuta?"_ This is what came of that, so I hope you enjoy!

For anyone who doesn't know what _karuta_ is, the characters here do a pretty bare-bones job of explaining it, but it's also really easy to Google!

* * *

Yusuke and Kuwabara weren't really sure what they'd walked in on. Botan and Kurama were kneeling on the floor of the boys' apartment, facing each other. All of the furniture had been pushed to the walls, and the coffee table that normally sat in the middle of the room was on its side near the TV. Between the two people were...cards. They looked like they had some writing on them, but it was hard to read from so far away.

Hiei was perched on the windowsill, looking irritated and like he was going to bolt at any moment. Jorge and Koenma were here as well, the former of the two sitting on a footstool, a box in his hand. He was reading what sounded like poems in a really weird voice. Koenma was watching, his expression wary.

Jorge hadn't gotten halfway through reading when suddenly, Botan sprang forward, slapping a card as hard as she could and sending it flying in Hiei's direction. The fire demon jumped out of the window, even as the card landed harmlessly on the sill.

"Oops!" Botan said, putting a hand over her mouth as she got to her feet. "That was a little too hard, I suppose." She walked over to the window, picking up the card. "It's a match, though!" she purred, grinning.

"I'll show you a match, woman," Hiei snarled as he climbed back inside.

"Oh, re-lax," Botan said, turning and walking back to where Kurama waited. "Even if I hit you squarely in the eye with one of these, you'd be fine."

"We'd never hear the end of it, certainly," Kurama added, smiling at Hiei's expense.

"I will burn you to a crisp," Hiei grunted, but everyone in the room knew he didn't mean it. Mostly.

"What the hell is going on?" Yusuke asked, making his way to the fridge and grabbing himself a drink. "Why'd you guys move all the furniture?"

"To make room for the cards, naturally," Kurama replied. "Jorge, if you would."

The ogre nodded, before beginning to read again. "The spring has passed-"

Kurama slapped a card this time, sending it cartwheeling toward the coffee table. "I believe that's a win for me," he said, smiling as he retrieved the card.

"Why does this look familiar?" Kuwabara asked, leaning over the cards. "These all look familiar…."

"I wouldn't stand there, if I were you," Koenma said. "Things tend to get...intense."

"It's just a card game," Yusuke said, coming around to stand on the other side.

Jorge began to read another card, and Botan moved, this time, slapping a card, and sending it into Yusuke's stomach. He stumbled back a step, surprised by how much force one little playing card had. "Whoa, calm down," he grunted, handing Botan the card.

"Rats," she hissed. "No good."

Kurama smiled wryly as Botan settled back down, putting her hands on either side of her head.

"Why's she doing that?" Kuwabara asked as he took a seat next to Koenma. Watching Yusuke get pegged in the gut was funny, but it was not something Kuwabara wanted to experience himself. Those cards looked kind of sharp.

"Because she touched the wrong card," Koenma explained. "She misses the next turn."

Jorge read again, and even though Botan wasn't allowed to move, Kurama was still incredibly swift as he smacked his hand down, removing another card from the play area. He smiled as Botan lowered her hands, rolling her shoulders.

"How long have they been at this?" Yusuke asked Hiei. He'd moved to lean against the wall beside where the short demon was perched.

"Few hours," Hiei grumbled. "They came to visit," and here he nodded at Koenma and Jorge, "and Kurama had those stupid cards out. Botan got excited, and they started to play. They keep going back and forth, each of them winning a round. It never ends." He sounded exasperated and like he was in sore need of a nap.

"Geez, it's just a silly card game."

"Shh!" Botan and Kurama said at once as Jorge began to read another card.

"Sheesh, sorry," Yusuke muttered as the two nearly killed each other in the attempt to swat another card.

"Why do these things sound familiar?" Kuwbara asked.

"They're from the _Hyakunin Isshu_ ," Kurama replied, still keeping his eyes on the cards. "You might have had to memorize a few of the poems at school."

"Oh, yeah!" Kuwabara brought a fist down on his upturned palm. "That's it! I didn't know you could play a game with them."

" _Karuta_ ," Botan said. "It's actually fairly popular in certain circles in Japan."

"Sounds fairly boring to me," Yusuke said. "How the hell do you know who wins?"

"Depends on the version you play," Kurama said. "In this one, whoever takes the most cards wins."

"Still sounds lame."

"Be quiet," Hiei snapped. "The sooner you shut up, the sooner the blue oaf can read these damn poems, and the sooner the game ends."

Yusuke grumbled a few rude things under his breath, but other than that, he was silent as the game continued. Kurama and Botan were evenly matched. They traded card for card, each slapping with far more intensity than was necessary. The fact that Botan could even move as fast as Kurama was impressive enough, let alone competing in a game like this and holding her own.

Not even Koenma had known she had such a knack for _karuta_. By the time the game was over, several more cards had chased Hiei out the window, one had gotten stuck in the tatami floor, and one had scared Eikichi senseless, sending the cat scurrying from the room.

Botan was sweating, and she passed a hand over her eyes as she counted her cards. Kurama did likewise, his own breathing a little heavy from exhilaration.

"That was a good game," he told Botan as he finished counting.

"It really was," Botan replied, doing the same. They bowed low to each other, and Botan sighed, flopping over onto her back. "Twenty-three cards!" she whined. "So close."

"Indeed." Kurama got to his feet, heading over to the fridge. He pulled out drinks for himself and Botan before settling back down.

"The hell are you guys so tired for?" Yusuke asked, stomping over to where they were sitting, having deemed it safe without any cards spread out.

"It requires quite a lot of mental dexterity, Yusuke," Kurama supplied, taking a long, slow drink of the water he'd grabbed.

"You have to memorize where the cards are on both sides of the play area, and then forget them when you start a new round, only to memorize more." Botan took a large gulp herself as she said this, sighing.

"It doesn't look that hard," Yusuke snapped. "Yo, Kuwabara, let's do this."

"Do what?" Kuwabara asked.

"This stupid game. Karu-whatever."

" _Karuta_ ," Kurama corrected, "and you don't have any of the poems memorized."

"Isn't there some other way to play?" Kuwabara grunted. "I kind of want to smack stuff too. You guys looked really cool."

Kurama frowned before holding up a finger and leaving the room. He came back with two sets of regular playing cards. "You can use these. Just grab the card that Jorge reads off, all right?" The fox demon set up the field for them, fifty cards in total, removing two of the aces from the deck.

"If you smack the wrong card, you lose a turn," he told them. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah," Yusuke said. "Just start already."

Which wasn't a terrible idea. The game started off well-enough, with the two smacking cards. Eventually, however, they smacked each other in the process, until Yusuke flopped onto all of the cards.

"All I have to do is touch the right, card, right?" he said, face pressed into the floor. "If I'm touching them all, I win."

"That's playing dirty, Urameshi!" Kuwabara snapped.

"While technically correct," Kurama said, "it's an incredibly rude way to play. I'm not sure I'd call it a victory."

"Whatever," Yusuke said.

"I'll show you whatever." Kuwabara sat on Yusuke's back, making his friend grunt. "Take that, stupid."

"Who's really stupid, the guy who won or the guy who lost?" Yusuke asked.

"Clearly, both of you," Kurama supplied, making Botan laugh.

"Well, I'm just glad they gave the game a shot. I haven't had this much fun in ages," she said.

"Likewise," Kurama said. "Feel free to drop by again any time. It's nice having a challenging opponent."

"I do have to avenge myself!" she sing-songed. "Now, boys," she said, walking over to Yusuke and Kuwabara. "Why don't you try to play it right this time?"

"Fat chance," Yusuke grunted, flipping Kuwabara off of him. "Card games are for chumps."

"You're just saying that because you're bad," Kuwabara quipped.

"And you're just stupid!"

Botan sighed as they started to pummel each other again. "Some things never change," she murmured.

"If it should happen

That we never met again,

I would not complain;

And I doubt that she or I

Would feel that we were left alone."

-Fujiwara no Asatada, poem 44


End file.
